Protestors demand Tamil Tigers be labeled terrorists

Sri Lanka's government faces growing pressure from nationalists and key allies to declare the Tamil Tiger rebels a terrorist group and put an end to Norwegian-backed peace efforts, officials said yesterday.

Also yesterday, the military said that suspected Tamil Tiger separatists had attacked an army camp in the volatile east Batticaloa district overnight, triggering an exchange of artillery and mortar fire.

Anti-Tiger held rallies and put up posters in the capital over the weekend demanding that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) be banned following a Friday assassination attempt by suspected rebels against the defense secretary.

"The government discussed the issue on Saturday and there was no finality on the matter," a top government source said. "There is a strong feeling that we can't ask others to ban the Tigers when we ourselves have not done it."

A ban on the Tigers was lifted in 2002 ahead of the first round of peace talks with them, in line with the Norwegian-backed peace initiative.

The move paved the way for a ceasefire in the bitter ethnic conflict that has claimed more than 60,000 lives since 1972.

But amid an escalation of violence this year, the EU banned the Tigers in May. The guerrillas face bans in several other countries, including the US and Britain.

Officials said Sri Lanka outlawing the Tigers could mean an end to the current peace process.

The nationalist JHU -- or National Heritage Party of Buddhist monks, which is a key ally of the government -- staged a demonstration on Saturday demanding an end to the current peace process and a ban on the LTTE.

The Marxist JVP, or People's Liberation Front, made the same demand of President Mahinda Rajapakse.

One Norway's top peace envoys, Jon Hanssen-Bauer, was currently in Sri Lanka to hold talks with both sides in a bid to salvage the teetering peace process, diplomats said.

Hanssen-Bauer due to travel to the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi today for talks with the LTTE. Press reports speculated he had been asked to cancel his visit, but there was no confirmation from the Norwegians.

A Friday suicide bomb attack against Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse, the president's brother, came as Hanssen-Bauer was in Colombo meeting with officials.

The attack followed a speech by Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran last Monday, in which he said he would resume his campaign for an independent homeland.

The army announced yesterday they had repulsed an overnight attack in the Batticaloa district. No soldiers had been injured, said an officer from the government's Media Center for National Security.